New Zealand IT company, Thureon, has been recognised in the 2008 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA).

The company’s Armarac server ‘room-in-a-box’ product earned a silver award in the computer equipment category.

Twenty world-renowned design professionals honored the Armarac enclosure with a silver award for computer equipment from among 1,517 entries from 26 countries. 

“Sharing the medal stand with companies including gold award-winner Apple for its iPhone and MacBook Air – and bronze winner RIM for its Blackberry – is a fantastic achievement for our company,” says Tarun Kanji, Thureon chief executive. 

“We’ve come a long way, yet our team’s globalisation journey has only just begun.  Our focus now is translating critical acclaim into growth.”

As the world’s first zero-footprint rack-mount system, the Armarac enclosure enables enterprises to securely deploy servers and network equipment without requiring a network room or wiring closet. 

By bringing the capabilities of a complete server room into a compact wall-mounted enclosure, Armarac units fill a void in the market for customers who need to deploy rackmount systems in harsh environments or locations that lack space, environmental controls, or physical security.

The IDEA 2008 winners represent a celebration of the most innovative and exciting product and product concept designs of the year, competing in one of the world’s most prestigious design competitions.  This year, the competition focused on sustainability, great attention to detail – and in this slowing economy, affordability.

“We know that thousands of companies need a low-cost way to bring their IT infrastructure out to branch offices, factories, and warehouses since it was our own need that led us to design the Armarac system,” says Thureon co-founder Darren Smith. 

The IDEA jury spent weeks previewing entries online and in two-and-a-half days of intense, face-to-face evaluation and debate to evaluate the entries.  Judging criteria focused on multiple areas of industrial design excellence including design innovation, benefit to the user, benefit to the client/business, benefit to society, ecological responsibility, appropriate aesthetics and appeal, as well as usability.